Taking a break from Refco-centrism at The Daily Caveat, here's an amusing and disturbing story for you, dear readers. We've written in the past about the pervassive nature of 419 scams and the various lengths that international regulators and individual vigilantes have gone to in attempting to curtail these would-be con artists.

Well, the scammer-gauntlet has just been thrown down, with the release I Go Chop You Dollars by , which has become a hit single in Lagos, as well as a theme song of sorts for the friendly neighborhood 419 perpetrator:

Their anthem, I Go Chop Your Dollar, hugely popular in Lagos, hit the airwaves a few months ago as a CD penned by an artist called Osofia:

419 is just a game, you are the losers, we are the winners. White people are greedy, I can say they are greedy. White men, I will eat your dollars, will take your money and disappear. 419 is just a game, we are the masters, you are the losers.

According to one successful scammer, Samuel, interviewed by the LA Times,

"...[E]-mail scammers prefer hitting Americans, whom they see as rich and easy to fool. They rationalize the crime by telling themselves there are no real victims: maghas are avaricious and complicit. To them, the scams, called 419 after the Nigerian statute against fraud, are a game. "Nobody feels sorry for the victims," Samuel said. Scammers, he says, "have the belief that white men are stupid and greedy. They say the American guy has a good life. There's this belief that for every dollar they lose, the American government will pay them back in some way."

If only...

And lest you think this all be a joke, you can check out the video - of course there's a video - right here (video will load as a MOV file). The full lyrics are here.



Oh yes, and here's the album cover...

-- MDT

Labels: Refco